Fugitives caught in South Cyprus

Prisoners who escaped Lefkoşa Central Prison were arrested by Greek Cypriot police in the South

TRNC national Süleyman Yılkar, 40, and Turkmenistan national Aliser Eymirov, 17, who are awaiting trial for theft, are reported to have been hiding in the house of a Turkish Cypriot in Larnaca before being arrested on Sunday. According to a police statement, official handover procedures have begun.

The pair escaped while they were disposing of garbage in the yard at 7.15pm on February 7, according to a police statement.

Yılkar, who has reportedly escaped from police custody twice before, was said to have fled to the South via the Yiğitler Bastion, on the border near the Ledra Palace checkpoint.
Yılkar faces 10 charges of burglary and theft, and Eymirov three. They include an October burglary at the İtimat bus service offices at Lefkoşa bus terminal, in which bank postbags containing some 500 cheques were stolen, and a break-in at the Akayoğlu Bros market in Gönyeli last July.